Glaringly missing in a history of killed cartoons is one by Doug Marlette that sparked Muslim outrage a few years ago. I know it's shocking that Muslims were outraged, but try to stay focused.

The cartoon depicted a jihadi driving a Ryder truck with a nuclear bomb in back with the caption: What Would Mohammad Drive?

Wallis says he fought unsuccessfully for the cartoon's inclusion, but "I know why it didn't run and you know why it didn't run." He did note with admiration that Norton was the only publishing house of 15 he approached that had the "gumption" to touch the book.

As the world knows by now, some Muslims have no tolerance for irreverence when it comes to their Prophet. When Marlette, now with the Tulsa World, drew the cartoon in 2002 for the Tallahassee Democrat, the paper pulled it from its Web site and kept it out of print editions after several thousand e-mails and death threats jammed its server.

The 2005 cartoon controversy that caused a worldwide outcry following publication of a dozen Mohammad images commissioned by the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, further illustrated Islamist intolerance for Western principles of free speech.

Marlette, a Pulitzer Prize winner, isn't known for taking prisoners.

"I wonder how Norton authors like Sigmund Freud, whose books were burned by the Nazis, or feminist Adrienne Rich's burqa-averse poetry would fare with the Muslim censors and Norton's editorial appeasers," he said.

"Norton has no moral obligation to risk the lives of their employees to publish a cartoon, but they should acknowledge they killed the cartoon because they were frightened for their lives because of a drawing and didn't want their offices bombed."

Many doubtless would agree with Norton's decision, figuring that the possibility of mortal threat is a pretty good reason not to publish a controversial cartoon. But, in fact, it is the very reason to publish.

Not to be gratuitously in your face, but to be purposefully in your face. To make clear that free speech -- even drawn opinion -- not only trumps special interests, but also requires a bold and sometimes insensitive defense.

Instead, by capitulating to intimidation (even if we call it sensitivity), we embolden the forces that have no interest in freedom. We telegraph to Islamist totalitarians, whose ultimate goal is subjugation of the West, that death threats and riots will silence us into submission -- the literal meaning of "Islam."

In the country that helped midwife free speech into civilization, that may be the definition of irresponsible.

You see this symptom of the suicidal ideology of liberalism everywhere, from terrified editors - who wouldn't think twice about publicizing a chocolate Jesus statue meant to mock Christians at Easter - to an emboldened Iran brazenly kidnapping 15 British sailors who are so constrained by political correctness that they didn't even attempt to defend themselves.

The West is weak and getting weaker and unfortunately for those of us who kinda like not living on our knees, there is little in the way of leadership coming from either political party. The Dems, naturally, are in cahoots with the tyrants because they share the same totalitarian agenda, but where the f*ck are the Stupid Party people?!? Thank God we had Reagan and not a feckless chump like Dubya (or his dad for that matter) when the Cold War was raging.

This is why Muslims should've been Time's People of the Year. They are so violent and put so much fear in the hearts of the power elites that they punked out and named us (i.e. "You") as people of the year rather than risk the consequences of shining an honest light upon the Religion of Peace.

If people want to commit suicide, that's their pathetic call. But making everyone else die with them? Absolutely not!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

SEAN PENN: (UN)AMERICAN IDIOT - For a long time, Spicoli has been able to get some slack for his rabidly insane anti-American lunacy - so brilliantly spoofed in "Team America" - because he's managed to ride on the "Greatest Actor of Our Generation" title, though it's arguable in the face of his recent porcine performances since winning an undeserved Oscar for "Mystic River". (He was far better and less mannered in "21 Grams" that year; that would've been an OK win.)

I don't really care enough to dig up links to his latest screed demanding that unless the Bush Twins are in uniform, then they can't support Daddy Dubya's policies, along with various other moonbat ravings, but it just shows how effing stupid these Hollyweird libtards are. How much artistic freedom - and freedom to mouth off against the government - does dumbass think he'll have under Sharia Law? Hey, bub, let's shut the f*ck up, mmmkay?

SOLDIER NEEDS RESCUE! - Take a look at this photo op of Hillary! with a soldier:

See the crossed fingers? That's the signed used by soldiers being exploited for propaganda purposes to indicate that they are being coerced. Read about it and wonder how America will be secure with this anti-military harridan as Commander-in-Chief of an armed forces that knows that they're despised by the boss.

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE MEAT - Anyone who watches VH1 Classic for more than 20 minutes will recognize this one. "Dun-dun-dun-DUN...and I would do anything for love..." ARGH!!!!! And what's the deal with Eddie Trunk?

IT'S MILLER TIME - I was surprised to hear while driving home that my local conservative talk station has shifted Michael Savage from his live slot to a 10pm-1am slot and replaced him with Dennis Miller's new show. (Larry Elder disappears from the station now) I didn't hear enough to tell if Miller is going to be able to cut it in this format and his slobbering shilling for Rudy Giuliani is likely going to quickly wear thin.

Rudy was on the show and he said something that confirmed his utter inadequacy for the gig of President by saying that Islamofascist countries like Iran will eventually want to join the global economy? Uh, Rudy? No, they don't. They want to reestablish a 7th Century Caliphate and end Western Civilization. To think they're in it for the money is to reveal that even after 9/11 - you remember that one, dontcha? - some people just aren't getting it.

Fear was banned from playing again after the 1981 Halloween episode. With Donald Pleasence as host, the band played that night by request from Fear fan John Belushi, and they proceeded to play offensive songs ("I Don't Care About You" and "Beef Balogna" among others) and bus in "dancers". The band also used obscene language and the dancers destroyed the set with their slam dancing onstage. The situation was out of control to the extent that the damage of studio equipment forced Dave Wilson to end the three-song performance by cutting the audio and video to a commercial as they started to play "Let's Have a War" .

Note: The episode has not been rebroadcast on NBC.

I think I saw part of this on Comedy Central, but it's notable because some friends of my girlfriend were in that mob.

DIRK'S DISH DU JOUR - I've been playing Tomb Ho: Legend to score some easy achievement points and to see how it compared to the PC version that I played for a review about a year ago, so here's a twofer babe shot of Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft.

Jolie refused to wear Lara's trademark short shorts beyond the first scene of that mediocre movie and I can't figure why - she's even hawter than usual in 'em.

Monday, March 26, 2007

At the Costco I usually go to, there is a cashier who's been there a while who frankly surprises me that she's not working as a model or something. She's easily 6'1" with a figure that which is thin, but not scrawny. (She's comparable to many of the non-household name clothes horses I've seen.) She looks a LOT like Kirsten Dunst with a little Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe on "24") tossed in. She's blonde and cute, so it's odd that she's ringing up cases of water instead of running with Bono in the south of France.

I knew another much-hotter blonde who was going to model for my band's next CD cover who had decided not to model because she didn't want to have to sleep around for gigs, so maybe there's an element of that here. Maybe no one's discovered Ms. Costco. Maybe she doesn't want to do this sort of thing or maybe I'm wrong about her market value. She's still cute, though.

Animal rights activists argue that he should be given a lethal injection rather than brought up suffering the humiliation of being treated as a domestic pet.

"The zoo must kill the bear," said spokesman Frank Albrecht. "Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws."

This is typical of the Culture of Death on the Left. They SAY they want to save the planet. They SAY they want to save the [insert species name here]. But when it comes right down to it, they want nothing but DEATH, DEATH, and DEATH!!! They used to be satisfied with the million-plus abortions per year, but now their thirst for death is driving them to slaughter animals in a manner that even Ted Nugent would say, "Whoa!" to.

The Islamofascists have repeatedly said that they will win because, "you love life while we love death," so is there any doubt as to whose side these animal killers are rooting for?

BONG HITS 4 JESUS: So, some smart ass kid holds up a sign reading this across the street from his school, gets suspended, sues the principal, and the case ended up in the Supreme Court yesterday. Listening to Bill Bennett on the drive in, it sounded as if Bill and most of his listeners were perfectly OK with what happened - we've gotta keep control of the punks; blah-blah-woof-woof - and said that even if the sign had said something non-druggie like "Republicans Suck! Vote Democratic!" and the principal stomped him, it would be OK.

That's a dishonest formulation. What if the sign read, "Jesus Loves You! Choose Life!", would Bill & Co. be so gung ho to shut the kid up? Of course not. Walk it like you talk it, you goofs.

WHEN IS 8>93? When it's the number of Federal attorneys fired by the inept Team Dubya, it is! The bias of the Treason Media has been on full display in their context-free reporting of the latest self-inflicted misstep by Team Dubya. They sacked eight political appointees and are being raked over the coals as if they'd executed them, but the reporters have taken great pains to omit that when the Clinton Regime rode into town, their first act was to fire ALL 93 prosecutors in order to cover that they were targeting two in particular - one who was looking into the endless swamp of Clinton crimes in Arkansas and one who was about to charge Dan Rostinkowski, whom Bubba needed to ram his socialist agenda thru Congress. Rosty was still charged and convicted and that led to Newt's leading the Stupid Party to take over Congress, but Clinton pardoned him, like he did for all his criminal pals.

Bottom Line: Another Team Dubya guy is going to be fed to the sharks. The problem is that AG Alberto Gonzales - his initials match his job title - has been a failure and should be unemployed for his giving Sandy Berger a pass, not investigating CIA/FBI leaks, not charging the Treason Media with treason, etc. He should be cashiered, but not for this.

O'REILLY, "O RLY": I rarely watch the Leprechaun (as Michael Savage calls him) because he so rarely actually engages in conversation, but last night he was actually awesome as he had some idiot woman from an anti-war group and quietly tore her to pieces. Actually, he just fed her the rope with which she hung herself in the eyes of the audience. As she made one outlandish charge of American evil after another, he calmly asked what proof she had and she NEVER ANSWERED THE QUESTIONS! She kept leaping to another charge and when pinned down, accused O'Reilly of being part of the "cover-up" of the Truth. He repeatedly asked her to provide some evidence and she kept dodging, saying "you're the reporter" and then accusing him of hiding the facts.

This moron was on the highest-rated shouting head show. She could've dropped a NY phone book-sized stack of documents to back up her wild claims but didn't? Why not? Duh. Because she's making it up! Duh! DUH!!! She's so used to the unquestioning treatment of the Treason Media and Air AmeriKKKa that she had nothing to offer but indignant fantasies of evil. I hope she'll enjoy her burqua and arranged marriage.

GRAW FAUX PAS: I screwed myself in GRAW last night. I was stumped as to how to get past these two tanks and was severely wounded, so for the heck of it, I just ran past them to the Palace - too long to explain; GRAW players will know what I'm talking about - and got there in one piece. The problem is that it saved my progress and inside there are about 20 rebels who kill me and my squad dead. Because I triggered and autosave point, I'm screwed and have to restart the mission about 8 segments earlier now. Drag. :(

REGARDING "300": Went to the theater for the first time in five months - that's another story - to see the man meat extravaganza "300". Hermione loved it, saying it made her giddy, and while I liked it, it didn't blow my hair back like "Sin City" or "Sky Captain" did. The critics have been slagging it mightily and while watching it, I saw why: It's about standing up to tyranny and to the anti-America, anti-Dubya media, this is simply unacceptable.

Before the film opened, the crix were grilling director Zach Snyder (who also did the "Dawn of the Dead" remake) as to which character was meant to be Dubya: Leonidas, the Spartan king who died defending his land against the Persian attack; or Xerxes, the Persian god-king who ruled most of the world with a huge force and met defeat at the hands of a scrappy little foe.

The fact that they had to ask this question shows how Bush Derangement Syndrome consumes the minds of those afflicted. First, the story is 2500 years old and the graphic novel was published in 1998. Now, class, who was President then? This isn't "V For Vendetta", where a tale inspired to slap at Thatcher was clumsily retooled to bash Bush to the detriment of the movie. It's pretty clear that if you want to draw a connection between "300" and the War Agaisnt Islmaofascism it's that Dubya is Leonidas standing against the forces of "mysticism and tyranny", as a character in the movie says. This is why the critics hate "300" - they hate Bush and hate the idea that free men be free.

Read about the cultural significance of the events dramatized in "300" here and realize that if Leonidas had bowed to Xerxes, Western Civilization as we know it would've likely perished. This make the fascist liberals maddest because free man resist the yoke of tyranny they wish to place upon us.

I was listening to the latest PC Gamer podcast and they mentioned that a patch had removed the CD check for CoH, something I'd overlooked in the change list. I've verified that this is so (1.40 patch) and got to free up one of my drives in my computer.

If only BF2142 would do the same. BTW, the Northern Strike booster pack has been released and I've finally looked at the maps I didn't get to see while in the closed beta. As soon as I get done writing this and filing another review, I'll be shooting it up online for a bit.

If you had to point to the first film where Williams was clearly trying to be funny, but sort of thrashing around in a failed attempt to do so, it'd most likely be Good Morning, Vietnam, wherein Williams interprets "Hilarious radio DJ" as someone who impersonates an Angry Black Man, Gay Hairdresser and Southern Preacher in an endless, irritating soundloop. It's the movie equivelant (sic) of getting locked in a room with a Paul Reiser robot that's stuck on "Joke About Airline Peanuts" mode.

Kinda harsh, but pretty true. No one knows who George Gessell is anymore, Robin. (Though I liked the "Dr. Doolittle" flicks.)

Monday, March 12, 2007

Dig this lame mailer I got from Apple as part of their "Go Beyond Vista" campaign:

Make a movie. Publish your own podcast. Create gorgeous coffee-table books. Video chat with friends and family.* State your views in a daily blog. From the moment you turn on a Mac, you'll find that everything you want to do is easier than you ever imagined

What's missing? How about DOING SOME WORK!!! Not one thing on their list is anything more than navel-gazing hippie crap!!! "Dude, buy a Mac and, like, do fun stuff while waiting for the welfare check to arrive." Pathetic.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Reading this made me feel like what I imagine hallucinogic drugs fell like. They could've saved a ton of time and ink if they'd just printed what they really want....

"SURRENDER, AMERICA!!!"

The worst part of such lunatic fantasias as these is the fact they believe the sword of jihad won't be felt upon their necks as a reward for their collaboration with the enemy. They're all Baltars there.

The issue is to deprive the right wing's premier propaganda outlet an easy opportunity to take cheap shots at our guys.

This is the media outlet that these Democrats would legitimize with their appearance at their debate:

First, the "cheap shots" comments is a laugh. The Treason Media has been playing dumb about the Scooter Libby fiasco for YEARS, knowing full well that Valerie Plame wasn't covert; Joe Wilson is a discredited liar about his trip to Niger; that Richard Armitage was the first person to spill the beans; yet they cheerfully promulgated the meme that Team Dubya was up to no good and they had no idea what the facts are. With the conviction of Scooter, the fascist Dems have their Watergate to go with their Vietnam - facts, reality, justice and honesty be damned. (More on the Scooter fiasco later if I've got the time.)

As for honesty, the characterization of the screen shot as *proof* that Fox lies is a blatant lie, but typical of the reality-challenged Left. Libby WAS acquitted of one count relating to lying to the G-Men, so there is nothing inappropriate about the Chyron shown. Were there supers reading "LIBBY CONVICTED OF PERJURY BEFORE THE GRAND JURY"? Probably, not that liars like Kos would ever admit it.

The Left likes to talk about "speaking Truth to Power", but if FNC is the Power and they have the Truth, why is Kos trying to herd his sheep into friendlier Olberman-Matthews-controlled territories?

Because they are liars and are terrified of their feckless candidates being exposed as such before a large audience. Cowards.

The truth is, Fox News can "report" whatever they want. And when it works for us, we'll deal with them on our terms. But this campaign is about responsibility and accountability, and we need to send the message to Fox that if they want to be the corporate mouthpiece of the Republican Party more than they want to be an impartial news outlet, they shouldn't expect Democrats to play along.

Oooooh, the Big Bad Fox is a mouthpiece? Uh, what are the whole array of Treason Media outlets - i.e. everyone but Fox News - who are little more than PR outlets for the fascist liberals agendas. Is CNN, the purveyors of the Tailwind fraud, a more acceptable outlet because they don't question the Party edicts and actively collaborate with the jihadis, running snuff footage of out soldiers being killed by snipers? It appears so. It really is just more proof that when the fascist Left doesn't have total control over information and the thoughts of their subjects, er, the public, they just go nuts like the babies they are.

Their lies are so pathetic that they don't even realize that they're providing the links to debunk their own assertions, as John Hinderocker found out:

I was struck by this paragraph in the Politico story linked above:

FOX News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes gave the progressive activists more ammunition on Thursday when he jokingly compared Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, to Osama bin Laden.

I doubted whether Ailes had really "compared" Obama to Osama, so I followed the link. Here is the reference; it comes from a speech by Ailes in which he accepted, somewhat ironically, a First Amendment award:

It is true that I said Britney Spears looked great at the Academy Awards. and I later found out it was Jack Nicholson. [Laughter/ooohs]

It is true that just in the last two weeks Hillary Clinton has had over 200 phone calls telling her in order to win the presidency she must stay on the road for the next two years. It is not true they were all from Bill. [Laughter]

And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don't know if it's true that President Bush called Musharraf and said, 'Why can't we catch this guy?' [Laughter]

I feel compelled, however -- on a serious note -- to say a few words.

Two things are immediately obvious. First, the Obama reference was a joke. Second, the joke was on President Bush. The idea that this somehow furnished ammunition that helped the nutroots get their way is ridiculous. The moral of the story is that Democratic office-holders are so gun-shy that they are afraid to stand up to their party's lunatic fringe.

The Left projects their fear of their extreme radical base upon conservatives and thus the meme that "godbags" - as Edwards temporary blogger refers to people who believe in God and not fascist government as the highest power - is promulgated. The sad fact is that the fascist Left simply can't tolerate different opinions - what we call the Truth - to be heard by the herd. That a single news outlet dares to present a different viewpoint from theirs is an intolerable apostasy and must be silenced. They really miss their monopoly on the news, don't they?

The final irony is that if you flip this situation on its head, you'd have to imagine Fox News Channel announcing that they refuse to cover John Edwards or any other Dem candidate. That would be an intolerable affront to journalistic integrity, even if it would put them in line with the Treason Media's unified refusal to report fairly on conservatives. It'd be funny how the fascist Left gets away with such hypocrisy if it wasn't such a dangerous time for Western civilization. How will the Breck Girl look with his Taliban-ordered beard? Elect him and we'll find out, won't we?

he Nevada Democratic Party had agreed to let the right-tilting network co-sponsor, of all things, an August debate in Reno between Democratic presidential candidates. Party officials were serious about drawing national attention to the state's January presidential caucus, the country's second in the 2008 nominating process. What better way for the party to reach conservative and "values" voters who might consider changing allegiances?

But the socialist, Web-addicted wing of the Democratic Party was apoplectic. The prospect of having to watch Fox News to see their own candidates would have been torture in itself. So they set the blogosphere aflame with efforts to kill the broadcast arrangement, or at least have all the candidates pull out of the event. Before Friday, the opportunistic John Edwards was the only candidate to jump on that bandwagon.

You'd think the deal called for having Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter mock the candidates between comments. No, even unfiltered, unedited, live debate between loyal Democrats couldn't be entrusted to Fox News.

The approach of outfits such as MoveOn.org is so juvenile it's laughable. Imagine if every political organization created litmus tests for news organizations before agreeing to appear on their programming. Republicans would have boycotted PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, National Public Radio and The Associated Press decades ago.

This hyperventilation results from the fact that far-left Democrats have no comparable media outlet, nor any widespread national appeal, for their radical views in favor of heavy-handed regulation, wealth redistribution, diplomatic capitulation and economic protectionism. So they attack their rivals' messenger with a reckless barrage of rhetoric that cuts down their own allies with friendly fire.

By Friday, the Nevada Democratic Party caved in to the lunatic fringe and began seeking a more "appropriate" television partner.

Comedy Central, perhaps?

Liberals support fascist speech codes because they know that there is no market for their tyrannical agenda on its own merits. The reason liberals are so anti-Christian is because Christians try to convert people by offering them a choice of a better religion. Liberals are more in tune with the "our-way-or-death" methods of Islamofascism. The idea that anyone who betrays the faith is condemned to death makes liberals all warm and runny inside. They like using force to enforce their dogmas. But I digress...

If fascist liberalism had any appeal, the Dems would be looking to preach their message before the largest cable news audience. By running like little bitches, they reveal that they are more afraid that their non-Kool-Aid-addicted crowd may stick to watching Fox News and learn how dangerous the Left is than they are desirous of picking off some non-liberal voters.

“If you want to be the President of the United States, you can’t be afraid to deal with people with whom you disagree politically,” Kucinich said. “No one is further removed from Fox’s political philosophy than I am, but fear should not dictate decisions that affect hundreds of millions of Americans and billions of others around the world who are starving for real leadership.”

“I’m prepared to discuss the war, health care, trade, or any other issue anytime, anywhere, with any audience, answering any question from any media. And any candidate who won’t shouldn’t be President of the United States.”

If the toughest Dem out there is a bleeding heart peacenik like Kucinich, how the fook can anyone - who isn't suicidal, that is - support the Dems for anything regarding security matters?

Hence my unhappy surprise when Edwards, who has an attractively comprehensive social policy and strong oratorical skills, was the first to pull out of the scheduled August debate moderated by Fox News. What is this morbid obsession that liberals have with Fox? It's as if Democrats, pampered and spoiled by so many decades of the mainstream media trumpeting the liberal agenda, are so shaky in their convictions that they cannot risk an encounter with opposing views. Democrats have ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time and 98 percent of American humanities professors to do their bidding. But no, that's not enough -- every spark of dissent has to be extinguished with buckets of bile.

But Fox is certainly disingenuous with its absurd "fair and balanced" motto. Oh, come on, give it up! Why can't Fox honestly admit its conservative agenda, as do major radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and simply argue that it represents a culturally necessary antidote to the omnipresent liberal line? Yet for Democratic presidential candidates, who will be assessed by voters for their ability to stand up to China, North Korea or al-Qaida, to run squealing from a Fox moderator as if he or she were a boogeyman with blood-dripping fangs makes the whole pack of them look like simpering wusses. Dennis Kucinich was quite right to express his scorn and offer to debate anyone anywhere and under any sponsorship. Nice job of skewering the sacred cow!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

For such a good movie, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" seems to have fallen off the collective consciousness radar. One thing I didn't know was that there had been plans to make a sequel that collapsed over money and ego, but you can read the hare-raising details - yuck-yuck - in the article "Who Delayed Roger Rabbit?" I don't agree with the premise that the "Roger Rabbit" shorts had as much impact as they're credited with, but it's otherwise interesting. Give it a read.

Monday, March 05, 2007

HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING FROM SCOTT PETERSEN? This is a Detroit thang, but Steven Grant has confessed to murdering his wife and hacking up the body. No one should've been surprised that he did it, but WTF is his excuse for leaving a torso in the garage? If you're going to kill your wife and act all innocent for the press, shouldn't, you know, GETTING RID OF ALL THE BODY PARTS be at the top of the things-to-do list?!?

THE NAME IS BOX SETS, JAMES BOND BOX SETS: I picked up all four Bond boxes yesterday at Costco after being surprised to see that the the price had come down $10 before the coupon came into play. 20 restored Bond flicks with extras for $144 out the door. My g/f was giving me hateful looks and saying, "But they suck.", and I was telling her to hike it. Yeah, the Dalton and half of the Moore ones blow, but for the price ($7.20 ea.), it can't be beat. I haven't seen many (if any) of the films before "Moonraker", so I figure I'll watch one per week in order. I'll post reviews if I do, something I've been meaning to get back in the habit of.

NO SUCH THING AS MANBEARPIG?!? ZOMG!!! England's Channel 4 is going to air "The Great Global Warming Swindle" which appears to finally speak Truth to the lies and hysteria of the Al Gore brigades. More on the show here and stay tuned for a Dirkworld® post with more facts about the FUD.

MORE XBOX WOES: I hooked up my replacement refurbed Xbox 360 and it seemed fine until I tried to play GRAW. For some reason, it's freezing up solid when it goes to DL the patch. I've troubleshot the thing nine ways to Sunday and other games are playing fine, but the moment I try to start GRAW, it's hosed. Oddly, it shows in my Gamercard at right as being played, despite never actually starting. What a hassle.

I'M LOST AND HARE KRISHNA ISN'T HELPING! On the semi-up side, I picked up "Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy" for half-off at a Blockbuster clearance. It's fun and cute, but I've found myself stymied by some of the puzzles or trying to figure out where to go next. This is a kid's game?!? (Bonus points if you get the reference in the title.)

SPEAKING OF "LOST": Does anyone care about this show anymore? I'm still watching and I know plenty of people who still do, but no one seems happy with the way things are going. After the brilliant first season, the producers have aggressively pissed away whatever goodwill they had and now are just being annoying with all the needlessly cryptic nonsense and lack of answers. Last week's "Heroes" was outstanding, deepening the mysteries while providing some answers about some characters and providing some surprisingly touching moments. I just wish that "Heroes" wasn't directly across from "24" so I could watch it in hi-def and not on tape. Oh, well.

THROWING COULTER UNDER A TRAIN AND SOME THOUGHTS ON RUSH: Some blog is starting an open letter petition to have Ann Coulter not speak before future CPAC gatherings. Given her line-crossing dumbness and the media's eagerness to smear all conservatives with the "conservatives = racist/sexist/bigoted/homophobes" meme, this may be a good idea. Check out the first comment - this guy lumps Rush Limbaugh in with Coulter as an example of a hateful "loose cannon". As usual, the facts don't match the smear, but since when have liberals let a little Truth get in the way of a good lie? Michael Savage is an appropriate example of rage talk, not Limbaugh. They just try to smear Limbaugh because he's the biggest, baddest talker ever.

The irony is that the smear works until people actually listen to Rush. I was one of those folks who "knew" that Rush was a hatemonger because that's what the media told me. A family friend liked him, but I rejected even giving him a listen to see for myself. This is what the Treason Media relies on: Blind faith in the bill of goods that they're peddling. One day, driven batty by the lameness of music radio, I gave Rush a listen and after a while, I realized that the media had been lying about him and that led me to wonder what else they're lying to me about. It turns out it was plenty.

Back in 1994, there was no Blogosphere and teh Intarweb was barely out of the lab, so Rush was it. Now there are a zillion web sites spreading the Truth about fascist liberalism along with plenty of liberal sites reinforcing the delusions of the brainwashed that up is down, Truth is lies, global warming is real, Dubya is to blame for everything and liberals are smarter and better by the virtue of being liberals. Blech.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

There is a double-standard for what conservatives can say and do compared to liberals. Liberals are driven by rage and psychotically project their self-loathing upon their ideological foes, spewing profanities and slurs like David Mamet with Tourette's. Jesse Jackson says "Hymietown" and gets to be Leader of the Black People For Life; John Edwards hired (and then fired) a pair of bloggers prone to referring to Christians as "godbags" and Wonkette uses the term "Jeebus" like I use the letter "E".

While it's not fair, it is what it is and someone as smart as Ann Coulter should know that before she shoots her stupid mouth off. I'm not talking about her post-9/11 comment that "We should invade their lands, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity" crack which got her dropped from NRO, but her ill-timed comments last year and last week.

The worst part of this mess? It wasn't necessary. Edwards is such a soft target with all sorts of real liabilities - his 20,000 sq. ft. mansion, his ambulance chasing law practice, his callow shallowness, his prettiness - that Coulter could've hauled off and bashed him mightily and not self-immolated. The most important rule of humor is that there be a kernel of truth to whatever you're mocking. Since Edwards may be a twerp, but isn't a "faggot" by any stretch of the imagination, there was nothing funny about Coulter's comment. This wasn't a "botched joke" - as the feckless crapweasel John Kerry's apologists tried to claim when he slandered our soldiers - it was a stupid comment. Period.

In Dean Barnett's item, he says that people are appealing to the First Amendment as a shield from criticism and that's just lame. Just as the Dixie Chicks had to suffer the consequences with the public for their anti-Dubya comments, Ann is going to have to take the hit for her stupid words. The difference is that while the Chicks got to me liberal martyrs, forced to flee to Canada to find an audience and soothe the hurt with a fawning documentary and five Grammy Awards, Coulter is going to be pilloried by the media and thrown overboard by her former allies.

The Left doesn't disown their bad actors ever, while the Right can't turn away fast enough. It's too bad that keeping a clean house doesn't score any points, even if it's the right thing to do.=========UPDATE:

This is yet another legendary example of the far left’s patented ability to stand out as the absolute biggest hypocrites on the planet by once again not practicing what they preach. The right condemns their own, and condemns the left when they get out of line, but the left sees fit only to condemn the right, while routinely praising stalkers and potty mouthed bloggers on their side.

That is why when the left starts their outrage campaigns by calling for “the right” to condemn another conservative, I just chuckle. For those of you on the left who think you’ve scored a victory because so many ‘rightie bloggers’ have supposedly ‘caved’ to your demands for condemnation of Coulter’s comments, you need to take a cold shower, because the condemnation had nothing to do with your stupid demands and everything to do with the right holding their own side accountable for outrageous remarks/actions, something you guys have demonstrated once again you don’t have the ability, willingness, nor honesty to do. Lying hypocrites.

The Left projects their psychoses upon the Right, seeing everyone else's behavior through a hate-stained prism. While I'm sure some conservatives are peeved that yet another of their precious few voices is to be silenced while the hate-mongers of the Left bray on unchecked, never forget that this was Ann's foolish choice. I've worried that her good message was going to be drowned out by her stupid actions and it's come to pass and it's her own damn fault.

Conservatives believe that there should be consequences for one's actions and that's exactly what's going to happen. At least Ann appears to be sparing us the bogus mea culpas and blaming it on alcoholism/poor toilet training/oppression.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Wegmans is a large and growing grocery chain originating out of Rochester, NY.

Apparently, you can email an order to the Wegman's bakery for cakes - including what message you want on the cake.

The cake above was supposed to be a mix of English and Italian, but the staff apparently knew no Italian. The problem? Wegman's email system also apparently did not recognize some of the proprietary Microsoft HTML extensions!

The email likely feeds directly into their computer that runs the food-grade equivalent of an inkjet printer to place the message on the cake, so it is possible that the message made it onto the cake because someone did not check it on the computer first.

OH, NO! NOT MEAT LOAF AGAIN! For some reason, I've had the chorus to "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" running thru my head this week, so I finally scratched that itch by playing it on the drive in. "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" is the track after that. I've always wanted to do this at karaoke, but I don't know any female vocalists with the chops to handle the Ellen Foley part (Karla DeVito was in the video). Actually, I know two, but one's in New York and the other is hard to track down.

A visitor to the Wellesley campus is buzzed in to the wood-paneled archives, but only after storing coat and briefcase in a locker outside. Pencils are allowed for note taking — no pens, which might mar the document. Readers can copy only a few pages.

Too bad the National Archives doesn't have such rules. That may've slowed Sandy Berger's stealing of history in order to erase the Clinton Regime's feckless and fatal errors in handling terrorism during their criminal reign.

DOES COPYRIGHT STIFLE CREATIVITY? I've had many discussions about the absolutely fascist behavior of the entertainment industry with regards to protecting their intellectual properties. Disney has bought changes to the law in order to protect Mickey Mouse from falling into the public domain, but as a result, lots of other IP is disappearing because it's locked away. The irony of Disney's actions is that they made their fortune by taken public domain stories like Snow White, Pinocchio and Cinderella and then creating films of those stories. Under the old laws, anyone would've been able to make Mickey Mouse porno flicks by now. I'm not saying we want that, but that it could've happened. Of course, it would be disastrous to Disney's bottom line to allow such a thing to happen; to allow anyone to slap Mickey on a t-shirt with a bong, like all the Calvin pissing on a truck logo stickers you always see.

The Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" could never have been made and released under today's sampling and licensing laws and that shows how new art can't be made from old art when copyright fascists get out of hand. The next three items are all examples of how new art can be made from old, but could be injuncted out of existance.

YOU'RE A GOOD MANGA, CHARLIE BROWN: Check out this re-imaging of the Peanuts gang by the artist called gNAW:

STAR WARS AS STEAMPUNK:Artist Eric Poulton has made a trio of drawings recasting Jabba the Hutt, Han Solo and (Mr.) Chewbacca, and Darth Vader......in the "steam punk" style which presumes everything sci-fi looks like it dates from H.G. Wells time. Kinda cool.

RYAN VS. DORKMAN 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: I haven't seen the first fan film these blokes did and the fan film lightsaber fight flicks I have seen have usually been some nerds swiping at each other with their Master Replicas sabers to show off their rotoscoping skillz, but this thing is something truly awesome to behold. The choreography, camera work, editing and original score are top-notch and the pacing and FX are dope, yo! Don't freak at the run time; the last 3 minutes are just credits.

FRIDAY FIVER: "Smarter than a...."

1. What's your favorite game show to watch?

Jeopardy.

2. What game show would you like to be on?

"Who Wants to Shag Four Asian Girls in Catholic School Girl Uniforms with Thigh-High Stockings?"

3. Do you know anyone who has been on a game show?

No.

4. What do you think the worst game show is?

I saw part of this thing called "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader" in which adults had to answer questions from the first to fifth-grade - or "Grade Five" as the Canadians would say - level and it was interesting to see the grown-ups have to rely on the kids to bail them out. It was like "Jaywalking: The Game Show". Elitist America haters will cite this as proof of American stupidity; to me it's a fine argument for shutting down the government education system.

Anyhoo, the worst show has to be that "Deal or No Deal" abomination. Just insipid.

5. Bob Barker, Howie Mandel or Alex Trebek?

Vanna White (when she was posing for Playboy, that is.)

NOW I CAN JUMP IN AGAIN: Got my refurb Xbox 360, but haven't hooked it up yet. Hopefully it'll be OK.

DIRK'S DISH DU JOUR: I just watched one of those creepy indie movies called "The Quiet" which has "24" annoying hottie Elisha Cuthbert as a girl being serially incested by her father but is ambivalent about it. She gives a good performance despite the tawdry subject matter, but even without seeing the movie, it's always good to see her!

Remember: Lose the War Against Islamofascism and we lose the ability to see such things. Is hating Dubya worth losing the lovely EC, too? (To the fascist Left, yes; to the sane rest of us; hell, no!)